Notre Dame comes on strong in 2nd half for 82-62 victory

Long Beach State provided good test for 1 half

November 20, 2009|By Teddy Greenstein, Tribune reporter

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — When Notre Dame's Ben Hansbrough crashed onto the floor, Tyrone Nash heard him let out a yell. The home crowd, meanwhile, heard the unmistakable thud of Hansbrough's body slamming into the hardwood.

But none of Hansbrough's teammates feared the spill would knock him out of the game.

Said Nash: "He'll probably need some ice and a rubdown, but he'll be good."

Hansbrough was plenty good Thursday night in Notre Dame's impressive 82-62 victory over Long Beach State. Hansbrough helped the Irish take control in the second half, a 20-minute span during which they outscored the 49ers 45-27.

During one key stretch, Hansbrough drove the lane and fed Nash for a dunk that gave the Irish a 10-point lead.

Then he drilled a 3-pointer on a delayed fast break and helped force Larry Anderson, who scored a team-high 20 points, into a traveling violation.

The Irish (3-0) forced 12 turnovers in the second half.

"Defensive pressure," Nash said. "That was the key."

So was Harangody's ability to knock down his usual assortment of short jumpers, reverse layups and tip-ins. The most dominant force in the Big East finished with 29 points and 12 rebounds after hitting 7 of 10 shots after the break.

"I missed a lot of easy ones early," he said. "In the second half I took my time and was able to put 'em in."

The Irish led just 37-35 at halftime. Coach Mike Brey had promised his team the athletic 49ers (2-1) would present a major challenge, and he was right.

"In the locker room (at halftime), we asked ourselves: 'Who are we?'" Harangody said. "Long Beach State gave us a battle."

Brey hoped the game would do two things: prepare his players for next week's showdown with Northwestern (plus possibly Iowa State) in the Chicago Invitational Challenge at the UIC Pavilion and give them a solid nonconference victory.

"I hope that's a good win for our (NCAA tournament) resume," Brey said. "That was kind of like a Big East game. A great test for us."

Hansbrough banged his hip after skying for an offensive rebound with 7 minutes, 37 seconds to play in the first half. He took about a minute to recover, then rose to cheers from the Joyce Center crowd of 7,876.

"That was a heck of a fall," Brey said.

So violent that Hansbrough took an ice bath while his teammates took questions from the media.